Monthly Archives: June 2021

APEEE Woluwe or the chamber of secrets

Guest post, Language sections
Insights into the information flow between the Woluwe APEEE Board and the parents.

Preliminary note: Thanks to our kids, many of you must be familiar with Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Castle’s chamber of secrets (actually, at The Woluwe Diaries HQ we love it too 😊). As in the Harry Potter stories, some fiction is likely to have slipped in into this post as some facts cannot be verified – if only we had some Veritaserum or Polyjuice… but, as in Harry Potter, we believe the end of this regime is near even if only in one’s last school year…

Like at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, word has it that our APEEE has its own version of a chamber of secrets, and while we don’t know if there is an awful monster hiding in it or not 😊, it seems that amongst the APEEE Board members we might have pure blood wizards and muggle-born wizards, depending on which linguist section one belongs, and to which higher power one swears allegiance to. It’s funny when apparent reality appears to follow fiction, right? And let’s not even start talking about He Who Must Not Be Named… Continue reading APEEE Woluwe or the chamber of secrets →

An acute case of surreal confidentiality…

Confidentiality

If the Brussels afternoon of Friday June 18th 2021 was already hot, it became even hotter when I started reading this rather interesting letter by Mr. Marcheggiano, the Secretary General of the European Schools. 😎

The letter landed on The Woluwe Diaries desk around mid-late afternoon. In it, Mr. Marcheggiano explained the position of the Office of the Secretary General on the 180 days discussion. I will not bother you with the details of the arguments because you can read it yourself right here. Continue reading An acute case of surreal confidentiality… →

The great turnaround!

Bus service

In a quite successful attempt at mastering the obvious, the APEEE Woluwe announced in its message on Monday, that it decided to adapt its bus schedule for the period between 21 June and 1 July. This is a most spectacular 180 degree turn of events that, I’m sure, many, many parents were very happy to hear about. This decision will reduce the pandemic related health risks and will also ensure pupils will not have to suffer from the summer heat. Continue reading The great turnaround! →

The curious case of the missing bus monitors…

Bus service

UPDATE June 16, 2021:

There is a follow-up to this post.

…or how Brexit style cliff edge negotiation tactics go against parents’ interests

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The decision of the European Schools in Brussels to cut teaching time by 7 half days during the last two weeks of the school year is by now the talk of the town.

The argument to support this decision was that after more than a year of pandemic conditions, teachers are exhausted. The European Schools (ES) do not want to further strain teachers by having late afternoon class councils which, under normal circumstances, often go on beyond 21h. Continue reading The curious case of the missing bus monitors… →